More than 300 full sibling northern red oak trees were established at Ames, TN in 2013 and are being maintained by the UT Tree Improvement Program. The plantation is protected against deer by electric fence, rabbits by tree shelters (small trees) and voles by repeated cultivation to destroy underground tunnels.

To provide additional opportunities for phenotypic scoring and environmental interaction studies, much of this population has been re-propagated to the University of Missouri. A total of 965 grafted ramets are in the ground at the University of Missouri, representing 334 full sibs, plus both parents, (~2.9 grafts per clone). These trees were propagated over two different years (2013 & 2014).

Phenotyping

The following traits have been measured at the University of Missiouri planting. For each ramet (1-5 per ortet), six different leaf morphology traits were measured on each of two mature first flush leaves. This dataset represents an initial attempt to define QTL regions associated with leaf morphological traits in this species. Data collection protocols previously developed by our European colleagues for Q. robur were used. SM1 and SM2 are the parent trees.

Leaf Morphology

2014: 392 ramets (144 full sibs, plus SM1)

2015: 965 ramets (334 full sibs, plus SM1 & SM2)

Leafing Date/Bud Burst

2014: 392 ramets (144 full sibs, plus SM1)

2015: 965 ramets (334 full sibs, plus SM1 & SM2)

Leaf N Content

2014: 392 ramets (144 full sibs, plus SM1)

2015: 965 ramets (334 full sibs, plus SM1 &SM2)

Insect Damage (foliar)

2014: 392 ramets (144 full sibs, plus SM1)

Stomatal Density

2014: 15 ramets

2015: numbers uncertain at this point

Marcescence and Leaf N Content (using SPAD meter)

2014: 392 ramets (144 full sibs, plus SM1)

2015: 965 ramets (334 full sibs, plus SM1 &SM2)

We note for future reference that the parent trees are different for acorn size and maturation, masting interval, number of acorns during masting, date of first anthesis, bud burst, leaf
morphology, branch angle and marcescence.

Genotyping of this population is ongoing. A set of SSR markers are being used for the entire population, and a subset of trees are also undergoing ddRADTag genotyping.

Please contact us for more information or if you are interested in utilizing this population for research. Genotype and phenotype information will be posted here when publicly available.

Predicted SSRS (genomic)

microsatellite:

There are 497 SSR markers associated with 497 features in this organism.

The complete list of SSR markers, their properties, and primers to amplify then can be found on the corresponding analysis page.